1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a cart or dolly for lifting and moving heavy and awkward objects such as business machines and, more particularly, to a wheeled dolly for the installation/removal of photocopy machines.
2. General Background
The use of a wheeled cart to move bulky, heavy, or otherwise cumbersome machines is well known in the art. It is also well known to customize these carts to the load they are to carry so as to increase their efficiency. In the case of U.S. Pat. No. 2,450,690 to Robins, U.S. Pat. No. 2,551,097 to Cole, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,250,513 to Fenner et al., a pair of two-wheeled hand carts are customized to not only grip the load but to lift it as well, thereby enabling the load to be wheeled where needed. For each of these cases, however, one edge of the load must first be raised so that a portion of the cart can be positioned underneath it prior to lifting. This, of course, is not always possible.
In other cases, such as U.S. Pat. No. 2,491,953 to Coats, U.S. Pat. No. 2,822,944 to Blomgren, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,399 to Mobley et al., the load is either placed on the cart or the cart is inserted underneath the load and then raised so that the load can be transported elsewhere. However, if the load is so great that it cannot be lifted onto the cart, or if there is insufficient clearance under the load to insert the cart, these devices are of little use.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,628,068 to Sehnert discloses a cart upon which the load is permanently positioned such that each load requires its own individual cart. Such devices are not useful if the user desires to use the same cart for transporting a variety of loads.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,968,490 to Baus discloses a series of separate dollies that are secured to opposite sides of the load to be moved. This patent does not teach a cart per se, but instead teaches a means and apparatus for independently securing a two-wheeled dolly to an end of a load for transportation purposes.
Perhaps the most pertinent art known to the applicants are U.S. Pat. No. 3,633,774, U.S. Pat. No. 3,809,261, U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,597, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,739 all to Lee. Each of these patents disclose a cart designed to transport a photocopy machine. This cart requires a certain amount of clearance underneath the photocopy machine so that a sled can be positioned thereunder. Of course; this clearance may not always be available on every model or make of machine.
It is thus an object of the present invention to disclose a means and apparatus for transporting large loads such as photocopy machines. Another object of this invention is to disclose a cart that is fully adjustable in both length and width so as to accommodate a variety of differently sized loads. Another object of this invention is to provide a cart that does not require a sled to be positioned underneath the load before it can be lifted. Still another object of this invention is to provide a cart that does not require any part or edge of the load to be lifted so as to insert or install the cart prior to the lifting of the load by cart. These and other objects and advantages of this invention will become obvious upon further investigation.